American Go E-Journal

The 2017 Irish Confucius Cup took place in Dublin on the weekend of March 4-5. It was the most diverse tournament ever in Ireland, with players coming from 15 different countries. It was also the strongest ever tournament held in Ireland, with 2 European professionals competing, and the top group bar set at 6d. 3 Chinese professionals were also in attendance to give commentaries: Guo Juan 5p (who was also sponsoring the event), Yu Ping 2p, and Chen Rui 5p. Taking first place in the 5-round event was Kim Seong-Jin 7d, who edged out second placed Pavol Lisy 1p by half a point in their round 3 encounter. On 3 wins and taking third place was Mateusz Surma 1p, edging out on tiebreak Csaba Mero 6d. Lower down the field, other players also had outstanding performances, for example Sona Smolarikova 3k picked up 5 wins out of . Players on 4 wins included Julien Renaud 2d, Alec Delogu 2d, Marianna Szychowiak 10k, and Colin Lafferty 13k. The tournament was directed and organised by Rory Wales, with a great deal of assistance and co-operation from the University College Dublin Confucius Institute. The final standings are published here and full details of the tournament and sponsors can be seen here.
– Ian Davis